Seattle, Washington was “in bloom,” over Labor Day weekend as Krist Novoselic, Nirvana’s former bassist, joined the last two surviving members of the band: Dave Grohl and Pat Smear, during a Foo Fighters performance on September, 1st. The trio performed a cover of The Vaselines‘ “Molly’s Lips,” which Nirvana originally covered on their 1992 compilation album Insecticide.
While Grohl isn’t originally from Seattle, both Nirvana and the Foo Fighters, whom he founded after the death of Nirvana’s frontman Kurt Cobain in 1994, launched their careers in the city as part of the grunge and post-grunge movements. Smear was part of Nirvana’s touring line-up in its final years as a guitarist, and officially joined the Foo Fighters in 2010.
Nirvana was founded in Aberdeen, Washington back in 1987 by Novoselic and Cobain who originally went through a succession of drummers. Grohl ended up joining the band as their longest-lasting drummer in 1990, before the band’s dissolution in 1994.
Novoselic and Grohl have performed together on occasion over the years, with the former Nirvana bassist making an appearance on the Foo Fighters’ first demo tape on the track “Big Me.” Grohl even stated that he debated having Novoselic join the project full-time, before ultimately deciding against it.
“For Krist and I, it would have felt really natural and really great”, Grohl explained in an interview with Rolling Stone back in 1995. “But for everyone else, it would have been weird, and it would have left me in a really bad position. Then I really would have been under the microscope.”
Back in 2014, Grohl, Smear and Novoselic joined vocalists St. Vincent, Joan Jett, and Lorde for a performance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. After the ceremony, the group joined up with Jett, and Vincent once again, along with J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. and John McCauley of Deer Tick for surprise performance at the St. Vitus club in Brooklyn.
The Foo Fighters have resumed their Concrete and Gold Tour, which began back in July, after a brief hiatus during the month of August. This tour is expected to wrap up in October in St.Paul, Minnesota.
Last month the band hosted surprise free pop-up show in Los Angeles, California, where they joined Roger Taylor of Queen for a cover of the hit song “Under Pressure.” They used the moniker “The Holy Shits,” during their booking at the Hollywood Palladium, and performed songs that have been left of their set lists for a while including “Gimmie Stitches,” “New Way Home” and “Weenie Beenie.”
Later that month Grohl released “Play,” which is a two-part mini-documentary that hosted the musician performing 23-minute prog-rock instrumental track, which was recorded live. Grohl played on over seven different instruments during the recording which composed the entirety of the song.
“Even now, as a 49-year-old man, I’m still trying to figure [performing music] out… it’s not something that you ever truly master,” Grohl explained regarding the project.”You’re always chasing the next challenge, and you’re always trying to find a way to improve on what you’ve learned.”
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